Survey of SEC College Football
Second only to Christianity, college football serves as the dominant spiritual and cultural outlet for millions in the South. Perhaps no single thing embodies the sensibilities, mindsets, and attitudes of Southerners more than the cult of football in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Rivalry weekends are de facto holidays, prompting preparations for parties, food, and traditions on the scale of holidays like Christmas. The stadiums in the SEC — six of which are among the twelve largest in the world — act as cathedrals as much as coliseums, where devotees passionately practice their team’s rituals and chants in unison. College football coaches are akin to politicians, acting as major state figureheads and subject to volatile public approval; yet they’re paid a lot more, with the highest paid public employee nationally typically a coach in the SEC. The omnipresence of college football in southern life directly embeds the sport into the economy and politics, with businesses and campaigns using the brands of teams to bolster their profits and successes at the ballot box.
The sport simultaneously transcends and upholds class systems in the south; most fans didn’t attend the school they root for, existing more as an extension of state or regional identity. Yet membership in Greek life in the SEC remains restrictive and alumni maintain wieldy influence in state politics. College football Saturdays, in a region known for their food and parties, are among the premier showcases for the South’s culinary prowess and hospitality.
Team identity is ingrained into many children from day one, with some in the region bearing the names of legendary coaches and players in the sport. And every southerner in a college town knows it’s a grave sin to have a wedding on a gameday Saturday. Fans go to great lengths expressing their devotion; some physically brand or tattoo their bodies for their team, while others spend unseemly amounts of money on elaborate memorabilia-adorned RVs to follow their team to every game, home and away.
Born and raised in Baton Rouge, LA as a diehard LSU fan, these were facts of life I hardly questioned until moving away from the south. People in other regions, aside from a handful of other fan bases, just didn’t understand the scope and importance of this thing that was so intrinsic in my life growing up. During the 2024 college football season I embarked on a photographic pursuit to understand the grip and influence it has on the region, particularly during this cultural and political inflection point. Roadtripping to fourteen SEC football gamedays and one NASCAR race, I frequented college bars, frat parties, and tailgates, documenting people and moments to document the spectacle of SEC football.
